This story is a bit wordy and fairly long, so if you are looking for immediate gratification, you might want to look elsewhere.
The following story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance between these character and events and any real person or events is strictly coincidental . . . and pretty darn impressive seeing as it is a science fiction story. Do not reproduce or copy this story without the consent of the author.
This story is based in an alternative universe, where history took a different course than the one depicted in my other stories. It also takes place at a fictional town in Colorado called Crystal Pass and a fictional school called Four Corners University.
The following story contains lesbian sexual activity.
Proofread by "hkf999"
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"Because you're not what I would have you be,
I blind myself to who, in truth, you are."
~ Madeleine L'Engle
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Madison Sloan had never wanted any of this. She had wanted to go to college, make a few friends, maybe (with a big emphasis on
maybe
) go on a few dates, and then be out with her Communications and Journalism degree in four years before taking off to the great wide world of grad school, complete with funding from the North American Shifter Council. Being persecuted for a year and a half by another changeling had not been part of her plan. Being supported by her hot girlfriend and her hot girlfriend's hot-and-famous mother had been unexpected. But getting caught in a complaint hearing between the Hatfields and the McCoys? That was way out of her things-to-do-this-year list.
Alvin Hannity had already refuted the charges, then Madison and Heda had pled Madison's case. A young man who had been working at the medical center the evening that Alvin had mugged her outside of her dorm room had been prepared to talk about the injuries that she had suffered when Alvin Hannity's parents had made their entrance.
William and Meghan Hannity were the very definition of "power couple" in the shifter community, and actually in the human community beyond. Mr. Hannity was the president of Global First Bank, an international financial institution and preferred bank of shifters, magic-users, and other magical beings worldwide. He also apparently had made a number of very wise investments over the years, and was rich to the point that he had Bill Gates on speed-dial. His wife Meghan was from old money. She had inherited her family's entire tobacco legacy, though had sold it off to purchase a pharmaceutical company. And looking at them now, they were not happy.
After bursting in, the Councilman overseeing the proceedings had done everything but offer both Hannitys oral sex and his first born to keep them calm. Mrs. Hannity demanded that the entire hearing be called off, while Mr. Hannity just kept asking what was going on.
Madison was confused. The worst that was going to happen to Alvin, assuming anyone believed the DM (short for "Darwin's Mistake," and a grave insult against shifters that had been cast at her many times) over the son of the university's biggest donors, was that Alvin would be slapped with a restraining order. In the shifter community, that kind of restraining order was taken seriously, to the point that Alvin could not take a class that Madison was in, or even enter the food court if she was already there. And shifter's punished violators severely. Changelings were not supposed to treat each other as prey, which is exactly what Alvin had been doing all this time.
Mrs. Hannity had started throwing disparaging remarks at the defendant and then, probably without realizing it, at Heda Adler. That was when Jessica Adler, war hero and eagle shifter, had taken offense. Then, the yelling had really started.
Strangely, Mr. Hannity was not doing much yelling and quite quickly moved to prevent his wife's head from exploding. Thomas Adler, Heda's father, knew better than to try to physically restrain his wife (who would kick his non-shifting ass all the way into next week), but did stand between her and the other woman, exuding a sense of calm that his wife did not possess.
"Everyone, QUIET!" shouted a voice from the corner. The Reptile King and tenured professor, Neil Reichert, had decided that enough was enough. He may not have been presiding over the dispute, but he was damn well not going to let it get derailed any further. And when someone who could turn into a fifty-foot now-extinct crocodile told you to shut up, you shut up.
Jessica Adler still had her chin up and looking somewhat defiant when she said, "I'm sorry, your Majesty."
Reichert looked noticeably more relaxed after that. He was a badass, but you did not mess with Jessica Adler unless you were planning on having one hell of a fight. She had a reputation for a reason.
William Hannity gave his own wife a stern stare. She gritted her teeth, then let out a low, "I apologize your Majesty."
Reichert nodded tot he Councilman. "Mr. Zine, I think we may need a few minutes before continuing. Let everyone settle down."
"Dad," Alvin said, moving toward his parents, "what are you doing here?"
"Did you really think that a son of mine would be caught up in such a proceeding at this institution and that I wouldn't hear about it? Why didn't you tell me you were in trouble?"
"I can handle this," he said.
"William, maybe we should step outside," his wife said.
"My son is being accused of some fairly serious acts. I am here to lend my support."
"You are welcome --" the Councilman started to say before being interrupted by Alvin.
"Seriously Dad, it's no big deal."
Madison heard that and snapped. "No big deal?! You hound me for years, making my life miserable when it would be just as easy to ignore me, then you rake my wing in the woods and beat me up on campus, and you call it no big deal?"
"I never laid a hand on you, you defective --"
"Sit down!" Reichert bellowed, then turned to glare at Heda before she came over the rail to pummel Alvin into a paste. One day, those two would have a reckoning, but not on Reichert's watch.
Strangely, William Hannity seemed the most composed of anyone. He nodded towards an empty spot on the bench, indicating a desire for his wife to sit. She looked like she was going to protest, then obviously thought better of it.
"Young man," Councilman Zine said to Detrius, "you were going to provide testimony?"
Detrius rose and reported Madison's condition on the night she had been attacked. Her knee and ribs had been injured, and the doctor's notes indicated that he had felt that Madison had been in a fight of some kind.
"Who's to say that she didn't just get one of her friends to do it for her?" Alvin growled.
"Oh good God!" Heda shouted, standing up despite her father trying to get her to stay seated. "Even before I met her, everyone was telling me that you were harassing her and that she went out of her way to avoid you. Why would she drag herself through all this when NOT having anything to do with you has been her plan all along?"
"How do you know what her fucking plan is?" Alvin growled.
A new voice spoke up from the doors. "If anyone knew Madison's plan, it would be you," Edgar Adler said as he tiredly made his way to sit beside Madison.
"Sir, he's another on of
them
